Programm

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Background and Objectives
Farmland has not only been an interesting investment for financial investors since the financial crisis of 2008. Agricultural land generates comparatively secure returns in the form of lease payments and promises high increases in value, or as a hedge against inflation. In addition, income from land investments is only weakly correlated with income from other capital market investments. In fact, the acquisition of agricultural land is not exclusively for production, but often represents a financial investment with the aim of generating capital income. In Germany, 34% of the transacted farmland purchased on average by non-agricultural buyers. The involvement of non-agricultural investors in land markets can be seen as part of a financialization process that permeates the agricultural sector.
Many stakeholders and politicians, however, are skeptical about this development. It is argued that active farmers are deprived of the production factor "land" and thus the development prospects of farms are impaired. If not protected and treated separately from real estate markets, agricultural land markets would probably not be able to prevent massive and regionally uncoordinated expansion of non-agricultural uses of land. Furthermore, unrestricted accumulation of land draws attention to the issue of local or regional market power, which undermines fair competition and the equitable distribution of rents among farmers and landowners. Finally, evaluating the process of land market financialization must take into account the ecological impacts: farmers operating on their own land may be more concerned about sustainable land use than farmers who use rental land. The fact, that in Germany the BVVG terminated their land privatization program via tendering procedures in favor of land leases to farms with sustainable land use practices can be considered as a response to these concerns.
The proposed workshop is motivated by the idea to disseminate results from a DFG research unit on Efficiency and Regulation of Agricultural Land Markets to a broader scientific community. During the workshop, selected results from this research unit will be presented and enhanced by contributions from a renowned invited speaker.

Topics
Presentations and discussions will be centered around five thematic foci:

Topic 1: Farmland Prices and the Land Market Microstructure
Land prices are usually analyzed without explicit reference to the institutional structures in which they are determined despite the high specificity of land making each transaction unique. We cover this gap and investigate the role of market microstructure, including trading mechanisms, market participants, their bargaining position, information and search cost, as well as market liquidity, in the price-formation process. Using rich data sets of land transactions from Eastern Germany reveals that the market microstructure, but also market regulations including tenant favoritism, may result in mark-ups or -downs depending on which market participant benefits from information and mechanism investments.

Topic 2: Behavioral Foundations of Land Market Analyses
expected cash flows, interest rates, soil quality, or plot size. Individual attitudes, multiple goals in farmers decision-making and buyer heterogeneity on the farmland market are also assumed to play a role. Such factors have gained attention in the field of agricultural economics in recent years but comparable analyses for agricultural land markets rarely exist. In this regard, economic experiments have the potential to improve the understanding of agricultural land sale prices and rental rates as they can capture farmers’ and non-farmers’ individual preferences, investment alternatives, and sociodemographic characteristics that are not available in official statistics. By means of economic experiments, we investigate the decision behavior of individual farmers and potential nonagricultural farmland buyers and study when those actors buy, sell or lease farmland by considering institutional and economic farmland market conditions.

Topic 3: Concentration and Competition on Agricultural Land Markets
A major concern regarding land markets is that land ownership is concentrated in few hands, leading to an undesired agricultural structure with potential market power. Here we analyze ownership of all farmland of the federal state of Brandenburg using cadastral data and data on company networks. Our analysis provides an automated way to identify company networks and extract ownership concentration of farmland from cadasters, which enables detailed analyses of how farmland ownership impacts farmland markets and land use. We find high concentration of farmland in smaller spatial pockets where large companies and company networks possess substantial shares of land. We also find that public institutions own large shares of land in the regions with high concentration. We describe the different concentration measures for various owner groups and discuss implications for market power.

Topic 4: Land Markets, Structural Change, and Market Skepticism
Another cross-sectional topic that will be addressed in this workshop is the interplay between land markets and structural change in agriculture. When doing so, we seize on (mis)trust whether markets and structural change really lead to socially favorable outcomes. On the one hand, land markets and structural change determine the competitiveness of farms, their willingness to pay for land and thus land prices. On the other hand, the call for (tighter) regulations is often motivated by concerns about negative structural implications of land markets in terms of farm sizes, ownership distribution, land use, and land use intensity. Are these concerns motivated by rent-seeking or is there a deeper skepticism in the functions of markets and structural change? And how does the presence of highly successful and fast growing actors on the land markets affect neighboring farms, structural change and welfare indicators?

Topic 5: Environmental Implications of Land Markets
Global farmland biodiversity has declined in the last decades due to homogenization of agricultural landscapes. Under this topic we discuss the trade-offs between biodiversity (i.e., farmland bird biodiversity and crop diversity) and agricultural economic performance. Trade-offs are analyzed at the farm- and landscape-level using econometric and multi-objective linear programming techniques. Our results indicate that, in Brandenburg, farmland bird biodiversity can be increased by reducing field sizes and increasing the proportion of woody features. This can be achieved without deteriorating overall potential agricultural net returns. In Austria, the effect of agrobiodiversity on farm labor productivity is moderated by climatic conditions. Diversified farms are more resilient to reductions in rainfall (productivity declines are less severe compared to specialized farms), but higher crop diversity comes at the cost of lower productivity levels when rainfall is abundant.

Workshop Structure, Presenters and Involved Scientists
The workshop will be organized as a half day event on Wednesday morning, September 20, 2023. It will consist of six oral presentations (each about 15-20 minutes) and subsequent discussions. Responsible organizers of the workshop are Martin Odening (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, contact person) and Silke Hüttel (University Göttingen).
Keynote: Todd Kuethe (Purdue University, US): Trends in US Farmland Markets

Workshop structure:
9:00 -10:30
Welcome and Introduction: Martin Odening, Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Trends in US Farmland Markets: Todd Kuethe, Purdue University, US
Farmland price formation: a microstructural perspective Stefan Seifert, Universität Göttingen
Experimental analysis of agricultural stakeholders’ decision-making behavior on the farmland market: Luise Meißner, ZALF Müncheberg

10:30-10:45
Coffee Break

10:45-12:15
The Influence of Company Networks on Farmland Concentration: Clemens Jänicke, IAMO Halle
Land Markets, Structural Change, and Market Skepticism: Franziska Appel, IAMO Halle
Environmental and economic trade-offs under land fragmentation and climatic conditions: Klaus Salhofer, BOKU Wien
Wrap up and Closure: Silke Hüttel, Universität Göttingen

Presentations from FORLand:
Topic 1: Farmland price formation: a microstructural perspective Stefan Seifert (presenter), Silke Hüttel, Lars Isenhardt, Daniel Müller, Alfons Balmann, Marten Graubner, Marlene Kionka, Jana Plogmann, Martin Odening, Matthias Ritter, Lorenz Schmidt
Topic 2: Experimental analysis of agricultural stakeholders’ decision-making behavior on the farmland market Luise Meißner (presenter), Oliver Mußhoff, Marlene Kionka, Martin Odening
Topic 3: The Influence of Company Networks on Farmland Concentration Clemens Jänicke (presenter), Alfons Balmann, Daniel Müller
Topic 4: Land Markets, Structural Change, and Market Skepticism Franziska Appel (presenter), Alfons Balmann, Samuel Brea Martinez-Collado, Johanna Jauernig
Topic 5: Environmental and economic trade-offs under land fragmentation and climatic conditions Klaus Salhofer (presenter), Tobia Lakes, Daniel Müller, Andreas Eder, Heidrun Leonhardt, Maximilian Wesemeyer

Target Audience
The seminar intends to discuss and to analyze the state-of-the-art in research methods for economic analysis of farmland markets. The workshop offers a platform to exchange ideas and to generate an integrated view of farmland markets. As current topics of agricultural policy shall be addressed, the seminar is not only relevant for a scientific community but also for decision makers in politics and administration.

Abstract
Current scientific and political discourse is targeting re-naturalization through multifaceted agroecological systems for animal production in light of land use-changes and the impending climate crisis. Silvopastoral and other extensive grazing systems including e.g. beef or lamb, semi-domesticated wildlife such as bison (wisent), or intercropping with poultry present conditions where animals are well-integrated into the natural environment, lessening negative environmental impacts while potentially adding social-ecological benefits. Understanding the benefits and limits of these systems to address societal and natural sustainability challenges, requires identifying and quantifying suitable indicators to measure socio-ecological value, environmental status and overall characterize agro-ecological schemes. Extensive animal farming systems tend to require more physical labor inputs than their conventional /industrial counterparts and hence it is questioned how fruitful these initiatives can be, in a highly competitive globalized-commercial sector. Seldom, however, are human resources used as a measure of socio-ecological indicators representing human-nature interactions; even less so are human-animal interactions taken into consideration. Yet, the search by consumers for products and services associated with environmental conservation represents an opportunity for these farming systems to access niche markets as well as to increase the added-value potential of synergistic indicators for socio-ecological practices. Hence, beyond measuring ecological sustainability, indicators may constitute the basis for the setup of result-based payments (RBPs); compound with value adding schemes (health/ ‘quality of life’); as well as indicators can signify value of public good characteristics in their own regard. Therefore, applying indicator schemes in extensive animal farming can benefit individuals as well as society as a whole. In the workshop, impulses and case studies will be used to depict different approaches from different countries to exemplify the socio-ecological value of extensive animal farming systems and to tap-into this added value in order to sustain systems in the modern world. The overall goal of the workshop is to synthesize knowledge related to (sustainable) socio-ecological ecosystem services indicators pertaining to agro- and silvo-pastoral systems in light of nature conservation regimes.

Program
Short Presentations (9:00 AM- 11:00 AM)


Ekaterina Stampa (Universität Kassel): Trade-offs between biodiversity, animal welfare and pasture grazing? Preferences from consumer’s point of view (15 Min. + 5 Min. Discussion)


Antje Risius (Universität Göttingen): Status quo on socio-ecological pay-off? “Multi-production” in extensive animal husbandry and nature conservation. (15 Min. + 5 Min. Discussion)


Elsa Varela (Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, Universität Göttingen): Extensive meat production and wildfire prevention in the Mediterranean – Case study 1 (15 Min. + 5 Min. Discussion)


Brianne Altmann (DAAD PRIME Fellow, Universität Kassel): How extensive can we go? North American bison as a food source in Canada – Case study 2 (15 Min. + 5 Min. Discussion)


Severin Hübner (Thünen-Institut): Grazing brothers in mixed systems in organic production in Germany; Perspectives for animal co-production ‚under‘ value? – Case study 3 (15 Min. + 5 Min. Discussion)



Katharina Langer (Leibniz Center of the Modern Orient)



Anthony Blair Dreaver Johnston (Kanada)


Discussant: Tobias Plieninger.
Workshop + Panel discussion (11:15 AM -12:15 AM)

Hintergrund und Ziel des Workshops
Neben der Fähigkeit, wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse in entsprechenden Journalen darzulegen und diese auf Konferenzen zu präsentieren, gewinnt die Kommunikation von Forschungsergebnissen gegenüber der breiten Öffentlichkeit zunehmend an Bedeutung. Das bietet für Wissenschaftler*innen einerseits die Chance sich fachlich fundiert in die gesellschaftliche Debatte einzubringen, erfordert aber andererseits kommunikative Kompetenz: Sei es in den klassischen Medien wie TV, Radio und Print oder modernen Medien wie Social Media einschließlich Blogs. Im Kern geht es darum, kurz und in allgemeinverständlicher Form wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse „rüberzubringen“.

Im Promotionskolleg Agrarökonomik hat sich seit einigen Jahren ein umfassender Katalog an stark methodisch ausgerichteten Modulen etabliert. Die ebenfalls angebotenen Module im Bereich Soft-Skills erfreuen sich zwar einer großen Nachfrage, sind aber von der Anzahl und den abgedeckten Inhalten her begrenzt. Zum Thema „Kommunikation von Forschungsergebnissen“ und der Vermittlung von Fertigkeiten, die dazu befähigen, existiert derzeit kein Angebot.

Mit diesem Prä-Konferenz-Workshop wollen die Organisator*innen diese ‚Lücke‘ schließen. Dabei wird bewusst nicht ein ganzes Modul im Promotionskolleg angeboten, sondern im Rahmen eines knapp vierstündigen Prä-Konferenz-Workshops zur Jahrestagung der GEWISOLA ein Einstieg in das Thema „Kommunikation von Forschungsergebnissen“ gegeben. Der Prä-Konferenz-Workshop kann als Teil eines umfassenderen Soft-Skill- Kurses, der auch die Bereiche „Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten und Reviewen“ abdeckt oder auch unabhängig davon wahrgenommen werden.

In Zusammenarbeit mit Dietrich Holler (voxviridis.de) sollen an konkreten Beispielen, wie z.B. Kurzpräsentationen, Elevator pitch und Kameratrainings wichtige Elemente von Medienauftritten zur Kommunikation von Forschungsergebnissen erarbeitet und geübt werden.

Dieser Prä-Konferenz-Workshop richtet sich an Nachwuchswissenschaftler*innen. Der Austausch zwischen den teilnehmenden Personen und das ‚interaktive‘ Lernen mit praktischen Übungen steht im Vordergrund. Wünschenswertes Ergebnis dieses Workshops wäre es zum einen, den Teilnehmer*innen Kompetenzen in der Kommunikation zu vermitteln und zum anderen, Feedback für mögliche Folgeveranstaltungen zu erhalten, die sich in Summe ggf. zu einem Soft-Skill-Modul im Rahmen des Promotionskollegs Agrarökonomik entwickeln könnten.

Referent*innen
Dietrich Holler und Kolleg*innen aus dem Team „vox viridis“. Das Berliner Redaktionsbüro verfügt über langjährige Erfahrungen in Medientrainings für (Agrar-)Wissenschaftler*innen.

Anmeldung
Da für diesen Workshop nur eine eingeschränkte Anzahl von Plätzen verfügbar ist, ist die Teilnahme leider auf Promovierende beschränkt.